My Cousin Vinny actor Lane Smith dies | Movies

My Cousin Vinny actor Lane Smith dies

The American actor Lane Smith has died. He was 69.

Smith was a veteran character actor who worked in film, theatre and television. On the silver screen, he played in the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny as the district attorney crossing words with Joe Pesci, the golf drama The Legend of Bagger Vance and the western The Hi-Lo Country.

Smith was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 29 1936, and grew up wanting to become an actor. He studied drama for two years at what is now Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, before leaving to join the US army. He later moved to New York to study at the Actors Studio.

Lane made his film debut in 1970 in Norman Mailer's Maidstone, and in 1978, he moved to Los Angeles to concentrate on film and television work. His first starring role came in 1988 when he played the warden in the drama Prison opposite Viggo Mortensen.

In 1989, he shot to fame in America playing Richard Nixon in the 1989 television docudrama The Final Days. In the 1990s, he was best known for his part as the explosive Daily Planet editor-in-chief in the Superman TV series.

Smith died at his Los Angeles home on Monday night. He suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, an illness that damages the neuromuscular system.

He is survived by his wife, his son and his stepson.

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